As many of you know, Elsa has had a clogged tear duct in her right eye since birth. Apparently, clogged tear ducts prevent the eye from draining normally through the nasal passages, so as a result, Elsa's eye would frequently tear up and run, and she got a lot of goop in the corner of that eye. See below, in a picture from when she was about 6 months old:
The goop always drove me crazy, so I was constantly wiping and picking at poor Elsa's eye (and of course, the wiping and picking was what drove her crazy). Our pediatrician originally told me that I would just have to wait for the eye to clear on its own, and that could take up to a year. However, at Elsa's 9-month check-up, she said that if it hadn't cleared yet, it was unlikely that it would on its own, and that meant it would have to be "surgically probed" eventually. But they don't like to do so until after the baby is one year old, to catch those few remaining cases where it will still clear on its own.
Well, it looks like Elsa was one of the few, because it suddenly dawned on me last week that I haven't needed to wipe her eye in about a month! Yay! And, it's worth noting that as far as predictions go, our pediatrician is now 0-for-3: She said Elsa would start getting teeth "well before six months" (nope), she would be an early walker (yeah right), and her tear duct was unlikely to clear. I guess we have a very unpredictable child.
2 comments:
...or maybe you need a new pediatrician! :)
Love Aunt Tanya
Funny you should mention that: Our 9-month checkup actually WAS our last one with that pediatrician. She recently left practice to stay home with her kids. So beginning with Elsa's 12-month check-up, we're seeing somebody new! We'll see if she's any better with the predictions. : )
Post a Comment